Pensions minister Steve Webb has said the Government's flagship pension policy is working because workers trust their employers rather than the pensions industry as an employee of West Ham United became the three millionth to be automatically enrolled into a pension.

The Premier League side has been involved more than any other club with the automatic pensions programme, with its chief executive Karren Brady involved in a multi-million pound advertising blitz prior to its launch in autumn 2012.

And in an almighty coincidence, an employee of the East London club has become the three millionth person to be auto-enrolled, with the pensions minister meeting staff at Upton Park to discuss their new pensions on Wednesday.

Landmark: Steve Webb MP (centre) and The Pensions Regulator's executive director Charles Counsell (right) were at Upton Park to mark the three millionth member to be auto-enrolled.

While there remains a significant level of mistrust about the pensions industry as a whole in the UK, Mr Webb said that people being auto-enrolled are trusting that their employers will look out for their best interests.

Speaking to This is Money at the event, he said: 'I think the scale of auto-enrolment is amazing. It's only been going 18 months and to have reached the three millionth member is extraordinary.

'I think the reason that nine out of ten are staying enrolled in is because they trust their employers. People are ask their firms, not the industry, about their pension and the employers are saying: "We'll choose this scheme for you and give you free money," and people are taking that on trust.

Role: West Ham's chief executive Karren Brady was involved in the advertising campaign for auto-enrolment.

'Employers have a crucial role and it's vital that they choose their schemes carefully.'

While West Ham's well-paid players shouldn't have too much of a problem setting aside enough for their retirements, it's a different matter for the hundreds of other staff that make up the cogs in the club's machine.

The club has enlisted one of the low-cost automatic enrolment providers - The People's Pension - to provide a pension option for their staff members.

Among those auto-enrolled are head groundsman Dougie Robertson and media and marketing executive Esha Chopra.

Another is 31-year-old sponsorship executive Julie O'Leary, who hadn't managed to join another workplace pension since leaving her job with the Irish Football Association four years ago.

She said: 'There's been a very positive reaction among the staff to auto-enrolment. As soon as the advertising campaign were launched people had talked about getting enrolled as soon as possible.

'At the moment I'm contributing the 1 per cent minimum and I'm happy to let that roll until it eventually goes up to 4 per cent (in 2018). I'll look back at it again when I'm a bit older and maybe look to increase what I'm putting in.'

There has been growing calls within the pensions industry to increase the minimum amount people have to contribute to their auto-enrolment scheme, with the 2 per cent minimum - 1 per cent each from individual and their employer - at the moment increasing to 8 per cent in 2018, of which half will come from the employee.

It has been argued that a person needs to save roughly 16 per cent of their salary into a pension to ensure a comfortable retirement.

New scheme: Steve Webb talks with Julie O'Leary, Esha Chopra and head groundsman Dougie Robertson about their pensions.

The pensions minister was coy on whether there would be any increases in the minimum once the roll out was complete in four years' time,. He did not rule the prospect out, but added that in the meantime people should be encouraged to choose to save more themselves.

He said: 'We need people on a decent wage to realise that putting 8 per cent of your salary into a pension is not going to give them the standard of living they are used to.

'But at the moment we are focused on getting people in, and we as a nation should talk about getting people beyond these minimum levels.'

He also hit back at criticism from commentators regarding the part-time workers 'left out' of auto-enrolment because they earn under the minimum of £9,440, which will rise to £10,000 from next month.

He said: 'Some of those left out are only left out temporarily, as they may only briefly be earning under £10,000, while for those who've opted out then they know in three years we'll be trying to scoop them back up again.

'We do not want to enrol the wrong people. Someone consistently earning £8,000 for example will get a state pension of a similar amount, so it doesn't necessarily make sense to enrol them.'